The concept of the Walk Together Design, when working between Indigenous groups and non-Indigenous agencies or companies is based on Intercultural Facilitation.
Intercultural Facilitation means having a facilitator who:
- Understands and respects the protocols and processes of different cultures
- Has the capacity to walk and work with respect in ‘the intercultural space’ between different cultures
- Focuses on process and leaves content to the negotiating parties – in other words, is not seen to have an ‘agenda’.
Research conducted by Dr Dave Goddard of Collaborative Systemic Change (CSC) over the past decade clearly shows that the only consistent outcome of current efforts by governments and private sector entities is maintaining disadvantage and dependence.
The same research demonstrates that Government and private sector entities operate in highly regulated, controlled, time and financial driven culture while Aboriginal communities operate in a communal, obligatory and relationship driven culture. The regulated culture dominates the process in order to achieve ‘on-time-within-budget-according-to policy-outcomes’ and it pays little or no attention to protocols and processes of the Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal people, therefore, walk away and say ‘leave that other mob to do him’.
The current process used by public and private sector interest groups wishing to support or negotiate with Aboriginal communities is as follows:
- Develop a policy
- Create a plan that fits the policy
- Sell the plan to communities
- Implement it
The current process as described above, over time, has created a context in which:
- trust between the parties from different cultures is low or negligible, all sectors viewing each other with carrying levels of mistrust
- Aboriginal people receive little or no capacity building to manage and develop community programs.
So change is desperately needed if disadvantage and dependence in Aboriginal communities are to be overcome and better outcomes developed. The changes are:
- Use the Walk Together Design which includes all stakeholders in concepts or plans for development from the outset
- Have an Independent facilitator for the entire process